Enrollment Trends

There are 3,089 active four-years colleges and universities in United States - 865 public and 2,224 private schools. In the academic year 2022-2023, a total of 14,146,834 students have enrolled in four-years colleges including undergraduate and graduate programs. Compared to the population of 10 years ago, the the number of students increased by 7.43% from 13,168,404 to 14,146,834. The undergraduate population increased by 4.91% and the graduate population increased by 16.91% in last 10 years at .

By gender, there are 8,191,565 female students and 5,955,269 male students enrolled in the schools. The female to male students ratio is 1.38 to 1. The female students increased by 11.06% and male students increased by 2.81% in that period.

Trends by State

Student Population Changes

The average number of students over the past 11 years is 13,766,682, and 14,146,834 students were attending the schools in the academic year 2022-2023. Of the total students, 77.11% are undergraduate students and 22.89% are graduate students. Over the past 11, the number of undergraduate students increased by 524,303, and the graduate student enrollment increased by 473,713.

The female to male ratio is 1.38 to 1, meaning that there are more female students enrolled in than male students.

The following table and chart illustrate the changes in student population by gender at since 2013.

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2012-13	13,168,404	10,399,351	4,637,109	5,762,242	2,769,053	1,155,548	1,613,505
2013-14	13,262,402 93,998	10,467,044 67,693	4,692,118 55,009	5,774,926 12,684	2,795,358 26,305	1,168,570 13,022	1,626,788 13,283
2014-15	13,615,040 352,638	10,743,870 276,826	4,794,179 102,061	5,949,691 174,765	2,871,170 75,812	1,199,319 30,749	1,671,851 45,063
2015-16	13,747,419 132,379	10,835,581 91,711	4,828,983 34,804	6,006,598 56,907	2,911,838 40,668	1,214,832 15,513	1,697,006 25,155
2016-17	13,837,904 90,485	10,881,788 46,207	4,834,380 5,397	6,047,408 40,810	2,956,116 44,278	1,219,705 4,873	1,736,411 39,405
2017-18	13,860,971 23,067	10,867,805 -13,983	4,814,722 -19,658	6,053,083 5,675	2,993,166 37,050	1,219,494 -211	1,773,672 37,261
2018-19	13,923,416 62,445	10,881,192 13,387	4,783,853 -30,869	6,097,339 44,256	3,042,224 49,058	1,221,943 2,449	1,820,281 46,609
2019-20	13,973,803 50,387	10,879,885 -1,307	4,737,214 -46,639	6,142,671 45,332	3,093,918 51,694	1,224,843 2,900	1,869,075 48,794
2020-21	14,002,715 28,912	10,805,175 -74,710	4,633,916 -103,298	6,171,259 28,588	3,197,540 103,622	1,245,078 20,235	1,952,462 83,387
2021-22	13,894,590 -108,125	10,619,461 -185,714	4,554,972 -78,944	6,064,489 -106,770	3,275,129 77,589	1,272,543 27,465	2,002,586 50,124
2022-23	14,146,834 252,244	10,909,499 290,038	4,689,203 134,231	6,220,296 155,807	3,237,335 -37,794	1,266,066 -6,477	1,971,269 -31,317
Average	13,766,682	10,753,696	4,727,332	6,026,364	3,012,986	1,218,904	1,794,082

Student Population Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the past 11 years is 10,753,696. Compared 11 years ago, the number of Undergraduate students increased by 510,148 from 10,399,351 to 10,909,499.

The following table and chart illustrate the changes in Undergraduate enrollment by attending status and gender at since 2013.

Year	Total	Fulltime			Parttime
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2012-13	10,399,351	7,826,872	3,563,441	4,263,431	2,572,479	1,073,668	1,498,811
2013-14	10,467,044	7,852,952	3,585,765	4,267,187	2,614,092	1,106,353	1,507,739
2014-15	10,743,870	8,082,763	3,664,204	4,418,559	2,661,107	1,129,975	1,531,132
2015-16	10,835,581	8,137,066	3,685,549	4,451,517	2,698,515	1,143,434	1,555,081
2016-17	10,881,788	8,143,746	3,678,808	4,464,938	2,738,042	1,155,572	1,582,470
2017-18	10,867,805	8,146,814	3,671,216	4,475,598	2,720,991	1,143,506	1,577,485
2018-19	10,881,192	8,169,025	3,651,707	4,517,318	2,712,167	1,132,146	1,580,021
2019-20	10,879,885	8,136,342	3,606,643	4,529,699	2,743,543	1,130,571	1,612,972
2020-21	10,805,175	8,027,019	3,498,655	4,528,364	2,778,156	1,135,261	1,642,895
2021-22	10,619,461	7,881,426	3,435,339	4,446,087	2,738,035	1,119,633	1,618,402
2022-23	10,909,499	7,927,047	3,468,440	4,458,607	2,982,452	1,220,763	1,761,689
Average	10,753,696	10,753,696	3,591,797	4,438,300	10,753,696	1,135,535	1,588,063

Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the past 11 years is 3,012,986. Compared 11 years ago, the number of Graduate students increased by 468,282 from 2,769,053 to 3,237,335.

The following table and chart illustrate the changes in Graduate enrollment by attending status and gender at since 2013.

Year	Total	Fulltime			Parttime
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2012-13	2,769,053	1,548,991	694,179	854,812	1,220,062	461,369	758,693
2013-14	2,795,358	1,578,978	707,315	871,663	1,216,380	461,255	755,125
2014-15	2,871,170	1,647,027	735,616	911,411	1,224,143	463,703	760,440
2015-16	2,911,838	1,670,004	745,817	924,187	1,241,834	469,015	772,819
2016-17	2,956,116	1,691,127	747,364	943,763	1,264,989	472,341	792,648
2017-18	2,993,166	1,707,931	742,704	965,227	1,285,235	476,790	808,445
2018-19	3,042,224	1,734,645	740,758	993,887	1,307,579	481,185	826,394
2019-20	3,093,918	1,763,723	740,015	1,023,708	1,330,195	484,828	845,367
2020-21	3,197,540	1,796,802	733,939	1,062,863	1,400,738	511,139	889,599
2021-22	3,275,129	1,870,200	763,192	1,107,008	1,404,929	509,351	895,578
2022-23	3,237,335	1,897,740	780,358	1,117,382	1,339,595	485,708	853,887
Average	3,012,986	3,012,986	739,205	979,628	3,012,986	479,699	814,454

Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 47.63% and the percentage of black students is 11.13% at . 7.34% of enrolled students is Asian.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at over the past 11 years (2012-2023).

Year	American Indian or Native American	Asian	Black	Hispanic	Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	White	Two or More Races
Year	2012-13	88,598	756,806	1,516,567	1,642,421	38,403	7,372,541	311,716
2013-14	83,543	775,900	1,515,811	1,732,520	37,589	7,290,875	352,751
2014-15	81,606	803,491	1,559,852	1,839,785	38,850	7,283,657	408,407
2015-16	79,708	826,686	1,564,083	1,937,525	37,121	7,239,863	429,297
2016-17	79,464	852,993	1,559,281	2,030,769	36,591	7,205,789	441,938
2017-18	77,618	876,331	1,561,512	2,118,685	36,625	7,152,690	466,702
2018-19	76,343	903,093	1,565,315	2,196,613	36,250	7,097,157	488,221
2019-20	75,427	928,651	1,568,644	2,271,619	36,200	7,040,731	510,317
2020-21	73,912	973,303	1,578,628	2,341,875	35,951	7,008,546	530,001
2021-22	73,851	1,003,299	1,541,472	2,345,598	35,409	6,829,275	532,139
2022-23	75,129	1,040,485	1,576,906	2,541,657	36,608	6,747,514	548,249
Average	78,654	885,549	1,555,279	2,090,824	36,872	7,115,331	456,340

Student Population by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

3,517,737 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2022-2023, which is 25% of total students. The number of online students has increased 132.33% since 2013.

The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at from 2012 to 2023.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2012-13	13,168,404	1,514,130	1,587,032	10,067,242
2013-14	13,262,402	1,661,667	1,678,840	9,921,895
2014-15	13,615,040	2,004,246	1,782,487	9,828,307
2015-16	13,747,419	2,082,560	1,980,553	9,684,306
2016-17	13,837,904	2,193,448	2,185,106	9,459,350
2017-18	13,860,971	2,282,665	2,379,396	9,198,910
2018-19	13,923,416	2,415,191	2,500,247	9,007,978
2019-20	13,973,803	2,586,411	2,628,295	8,759,097
2020-21	14,002,736	6,388,135	4,302,917	3,311,684
2021-22	13,894,590	3,775,319	4,351,370	5,767,901
2022-23	14,146,834	3,517,737	3,992,261	6,636,836
Average	13,766,684	2,765,592	2,669,864	8,331,228

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